My Hart

Yayoi Kusamas My Hart from 1953 is a pastel and ballpoint pen drawing on cream wove paper that represents one of the earliest works in the Japanese artists career, produced before her move to the United States in 1957 and her emergence as one of the most celebrated artists of the Postminimal and Pop Art generations. The title, with its deliberate misspelling of heart as hart, identifies the work as belonging to the early period of Kusamas career when she was still learning English and developing the visual vocabulary that would become the hallmark of her mature style. The pastel and ballpoint pen, materials that are associated with amateur or student art rather than the professional media of oil paint and bronze, reflect Kusamas determination to develop her artistic practice with whatever materials were available to her in the provincial Japanese city of Matsumoto, where she grew up and where she produced the early works that would convince the American artist Georgia OKeeffe to encourage her to move to the United States. The subject of My Hart, with its combination of organic form and obsessive pattern, anticipates the visual vocabulary of the infinity nets, polka dots, and phallic forms that would become the hallmarks of Kusamas mature style, and the early date of 1953 makes this drawing a significant document for understanding the origins of one of the most distinctive artistic visions of the 20th century.

Kusamas early drawings are significant documents for understanding the development of her style and the origins of the visual vocabulary that would make her one of the most celebrated artists of the Postminimal generation. My Hart demonstrates the combination of organic form and obsessive pattern that would become the hallmark of her mature work.

A 1953 pastel and ballpoint pen drawing by Kusama on cream wove paper titled My Hart, one of her earliest works produced in Japan before moving to America, anticipating the organic forms and obsessive patterns of infinity nets and polka dots that would define her mature style.